NATURAL HISTORY 



" T:> man she gave, in that proud hour, 

 The boon of intellectual power." MOORE. 



and animals deviate from these relations ia proportion as they 

 increase in stupidity and ferocity. 



*2. Why may we feel assured that all the varieties of man 

 sprung from one original ? 



Because we have, first, the Scriptural history of man's creation ; 

 Mid, secondly, scientific investigations entirely support the unity of 

 man's origin. 



Whilst attention was exclusively directed to the extremes of 

 colour and of form, the result of the first vivid impressions derived 

 from the senses was a tendency to view these differences as character- 

 istics, not of mere varieties, but of originally distinct species. The 

 permanence of certain types in the midst of the most opposite in- 

 fluences, especially of climate, appeared to favour this view, not- 

 withstanding the shortness of the time to which the historical 

 evidence applied. But the many intermediate gradations of the 

 tint of the skin and the form of the skull, which have been made 

 known by the rapid progress of geographical science in modern 

 times ; the analogies derived from the history of varieties in 

 animals, both domesticated and wild ; and to the positive observa- 

 tions collected respecting the limits of fecundity in hybrids. 



So long as the western nations were acquainted with only a part 

 of the earth's surface, partial views almost necessarily prevailed ; 

 tropical heat and a black colour of the skin appeared to be insepa- 

 rable. When the first Portuguese navigators sailed for purposes of 

 discovery to the shores of Africa, it was confidently predicted by 

 learned men of the time that if ever they returned they would be 

 as black as the negro race. 



When we take a general view of the dark coloured African 

 nations, and compare them with the natives of the Australasian 

 Islands, and with the Papuas and Alfourous, we see that a black 

 skin, woolly hair, and negro features, are by no means invariably 

 associated. 



13 Linnaeus was the first who ventured to class man in a scientific system with 

 other animals ; and he did not escape the censure of some, as degrading the 

 dignity of the human race by such an approximation ; but classification is a mere 

 1* 



